1. What’s your name & Your Company Name? My name is Rosa Liz Rivera and my company name is Rosa’s Natural Soaps.

2. Why did you decide to go into business? What was your motivation? How long have you been in business? I decide to go in business because I’m a Register Nurse Specialist in Wound and Skin Care (CWSCN) and I saw that there many people suffering for skin problems & diseases like dermatitis, sensitive skin, psoriasis, eczema, dryness, acne, fungus disease and itchy skin. Also I observed that traditional medication are abrasive, dangerous and doesn’t really work; Commercial soaps worsen theses conditions; many “natural soaps” wasn’t real natural loaded of dangerous chemicals and the good real natural soap was too expensive. So I decide to use my medical knowledge to create my own Old Fashioned Soap recipe of all natural soap making to create the most affordable; long lasting, creamiest, with great lather properties and gentler soap you ever use without using any bad chemical for your skin. We don’t add color, Coconut oil or Palm oil to our soaps to avoid skin irritation. We always test our soap PH to ensure it’s safe for the skin. We start our business on February 2012. Also we offer Pure Natural dogs shampoo bar for dogs with skin conditions. The Shampoo bars have special blends of essential oils that repel fleas and ticks naturally. In 2013 we started to sell our soap Loafs for wholesale purposes and fundraising events.

1. What’s your name & Your Company Name: My name is Amanda Stott and my company is Tiki Bar Soap

2. Why did you decide to go into business? What was your motivation? How long have you been in business? I started making handmade soap as a hobby in 2011 during graduate school, as a way to relieve stress. I also had a hard time finding truly vegan products. Everything always seemed to contain beeswax, or goat milk, or honey. I wanted something to use that was vegan and good for my skin but that was fun to use and smelled good too. After making a few batches, I handed out soap to everyone I worked with, friends, family, even the janitorial staff in my building. Every evening when I would get home from school I was itching to make soap. I was hooked! Before long people began encouraging me to sell my soap, and were requesting gift baskets for their friends and family for the holidays. I entered my first craft fair that year at Christmas and was surprised by how much I liked the sales aspect of the handcrafted industry. I finished my PhD in computational chemistry in May 2012 and after working briefly as a postdoctoral research assistant decided to pursue my business full time. If you would have asked me five years ago where I would be today my response would not be “selling handmade soap” but I love what I do and would not have it any other way! My motivation for transitioning from hobby to “this is my full time job” is that I enjoy creating, I enjoy meeting people, and I enjoy the freedom to decide what I will do every morning when I wake up. I am still just as busy, if not busier than I was when I was a student, but it feels good to be the one making the decisions.

3. What products do you make and sell? All of my products are vegan, and I recently reformulated all of my soaps to be palm oil free. I make soaps, lotions, lotion bars, cremes, body butter, nail polish, solid perfume, bath salts, mineral makeup, body butter candles, mud mask, bubble bath bars, shampoo and conditioner bars, as well as baby and pet care products.

4. What are your business goals? My business goals are to get my products in front of as many people as possible! I would love to one day have large wholesale orders and a production facility. In the meantime my garage as a production area will have to suffice. In addition, I am currently working on integrated productivity software solutions for web and mobile applications for the soapmaking industry.